The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has infected 2,674 people and claimed 197 lives in Iran in the past 24 hours, a senior health official said. Iran's Health Ministry Spokesperson Sima Lari made the announcement on Friday, saying that the number of total coronavirus cases in the country has so far reached 304,204 with the death toll standing at 16,766. 7/31/20

The Iranian Health Ministry announced 2,621 new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours, putting the total number of cases in the country at 301,530. Speaking at a daily press conference on Thursday, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Lari put the death toll from the coronavirus in Iran at 16,569, saying the disease has taken the lives of 226 patients over the past 24 hours. 7/30/20

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has infected 2,636 people and claimed 196 lives in Iran in the past 24 hours, a senior health official said. Iran's Health Ministry Spokesperson Sima Lari made the announcement on Wednesday, saying that the number of total coronavirus cases in the country has so far reached 298,909 with the death toll standing at 16,343. 7/29/20

The drug "Tocilizumab", confirmed to be effective in the coronavirus treatment, has been produced in Iran and will be distributed in hospitals in the next two weeks, IRNA reported on Monday. In addition to Remdesivir, Tocilizumab has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help partially improve COVID-19, Heydar Mohammadi, an official with Food and Drug Administration said. 7/28/20

This week, Iran announced its highest single-day death toll from COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak in February. The uptick in cases and deaths is the result of a new wave of infections that began May 3rd, two weeks after the gradual easing of the country's partial lockdown in mid-April. Coincident with the upsurge has been a drop of 13% this past month in the value of Iran's currency, reflecting not only the economic impact of the virus, but a disinclination by exporters to repatriate their foreign currency. -Roxane Farmanfarmaian, ELN 7/24/20

COVID-19 pandemic has taken the lives of 138 healthcare workers so far in Iran, most of whom were doctors and physicians, Hossein Kermanpour, the director of public relations of Medical Council, has announced. The healthcare workers who lost their lives in the fight against coronavirus are called martyrs of health. 7/23/20

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has claimed the lives of 221 people in Iran in the past 24 hours, putting the total death toll at 15,074 as of Thursday. Health Ministry Spokesperson Sima Lari said on Thursday, that the novel coronavirus disease also infected 2,621 people in Iran in the past 24 hours, increasing the total cases to 284,034. 7/23/20

The World Health Organization (WHO) has delivered 16 CT scan machines to strengthen Islamic Republic of Iran's emergency response to COVID-19. CT scanning is a key component of clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 patients. The units, worth more than US$ 4 million, were procured by WHO through support from the governments of Japan and Kuwait. 7/23/20

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has infected 2,586 people in Iran in the past 24 hours, increasing the total cases to 281,413, said Health Ministry Spokesperson Sima Lari on Wednesday. Speaking in her daily briefing, Lari said that 1,934 of the new confirmed cases have been hospitalized. She added that 219 people died of the disease in the past 24 hours, putting the total number of deaths in the country at 14,853. 7/22/20

The COVID-19 outbreak in Iran has turned out to be technology's time to shine. The available technology to help fight the virus is not anything new, but the National Innovation Fund and startups are using just that to slow the transmission of the disease. This includes using smart phones to report sickness and mapping local clusters. -Press TV 7/21/20

Iranian health officials have tried to play down President Hassan Rohani's estimate that as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected with the coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak. Rohani on July 18 cited a new study by the Health Ministry in offering the unprecedentedly high number of 25 million coronavirus cases. Iran's population is around 81 million people. 7/20/20

Hospitals in Iran face acute shortages of medical personnel and beds as the country tackles a powerful second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official of Tehran's anti-coronavirus task force said on Thursday. Iran recorded 13,608 related deaths as of Thursday, including 198 in the previous 24 hours, according to Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari speaking on state TV. -Reuters 7/16/20

The Iranian Health Ministry announced 2,388 new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the past 24 hours, putting the total number of cases in the country at 264,561. Speaking at a daily press conference on Wednesday, Health Ministry Spokeswoman Sima Lari put the death toll from the coronavirus in Iran at 13,410, saying the disease has taken the lives of 199 patients over the past 24 hours. 7/15/20

One fifth of the daily deaths in the country are related to coronavirus, which is alarming and worrisome, deputy minister of health has said. About 1,050 people die every day in the country, more than 200 of whom are among COVID-19 patients, IRNA quoted Iraj Harirchi as saying on Tuesday. 7/14/20

Iranian President Hassan Rohani called for large public gatherings such as weddings and funerals to be temporarily banned to slow a rise in coronavirus infections, but he shied away from recommending another round of curbs on economic activity. The country's Health Ministry on Monday reported more than 203 new fatalities and almost 2,349 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total infections to 259,652, with 13,032 dead. 7/13/20

Canada's Liberal government is still sustaining economic sanctions on Iran despite the COVID-19 pandemic. As public health officials now struggle with rising infection rates in what appears to be a second wave in Iran, Canada's sanctions must come to an end. Economic sanctions are hindering the ability of Iran's public healthcare system to deal with the pandemic and have detrimentally impacted public health for years in key areas, including cancer care. -Stefan Christoff, rabble.ca 7/9/20

First the wounded veteran, then the unpaid security guard, then the hungry child. The powerful images of hopelessness came one after another, creating mounting waves of shock for Iranians who may have thought themselves inured to tales of desperation, destitution, and political angst. Yet decades after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution seized power in the name of "social justice" for the poor and "oppressed," and amid deepening economic collapse, Iran is battling a surge of suicides seen as a barometer of the ever-widening gap between the political leadership and society.-Scott Peterson, CSM 7/9/20

Iran's total number of coronavirus cases has reached 250,458 and a record 221 people died of the disease over the past 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 12,305, the Health Ministry said on Thursday. Iran, the Middle East country hardest hit by the pandemic, has suffered a new spike in the number of daily infections and deaths in recent weeks as lockdown measures have been relaxed to help the economy revive. -Reuters 7/9/20

Iran's coronavirus death toll exceeded 12,000 on Wednesday, the health ministry said, with 153 deaths in the past 24 hours, amid a sharp rise in the number of daily infections and deaths in the past week as lockdown measures have eased. The total number of infections has reached 248,379, with 209,463 people having recovered, ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari said in a statement on state TV. -Reuters 7/8/20

Iran has recorded its highest single-day death toll since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, reporting 163 deaths in the last 24 hours on July 5. The total exceeded the previous record of 162 deaths set on June 29. Health officials also said 2,560 new infections were recorded in the previous 24 hours. 7/6/20

A powerful explosion at a medical clinic in northern Tehran has killed at least 19 people, Iranian media report. Authorities initially said that 13 people were killed and six others injured in the blast at the Sina At'har health center on June 30. But Jalal Maleki, spokesman for the Tehran fire department, was quoted as saying that firefighters recovered six more bodies after the ensuing blaze was extinguished. 7/1/20

The COVID-19 new cases and mortality in the country show an alarming increase in comparison to previous days, Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari has said. "Undoubtedly, the increasing trend reflects our [weak] performance in reopening and non-compliance with health protocols, she lamented, ISNA reported on Monday. 6/29/20

Iran has announced that it will make the wearing of masks mandatory at indoor gathering places as the number of coronavirus fatalities recorded in a single day rose by the highest number in nearly three months. The measure announced by President Hassan Rohani on June 28 was accompanied by news that hard-hit provinces would be allowed to reimpose restrictions aimed at countering the impact of the virus. 6/29/20

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has once again slammed the United States for imposing 'inhumane' sanctions on the Iranian nation, saying Washington hinders Tehran's access to medicine needed for victims of chemical-weapon attacks and other patients. The Ministry made the remarks in a tweet on Sunday on the occasion of the National Day of Countering Chemical and Microbial Weapons. -Press TV 6/29/20

Iran is approaching 10,000 deaths from the coronavirus outbreak in the country, according to official figures from the Ministry of Health. There have been nearly 200,000 people infected with the new coronavirus in the Islamic Republic and the number deaths in a single day from the pandemic topped 100 for the first time in two months on Sunday. -Reuters 6/19/20

Months into Iran's fight against the coronavirus, doctors and nurses at Tehran's Shohadaye Tajrish Hospital still don a mask, a disposable hazmat suit and a double layer of latex gloves every day to attempt to contain a pandemic that shows no signs of slowing. The hiss of high-flow oxygen to wheezing patients, the beeps of equipment monitoring vital signs and the crinkling rustle of passing medics have become a daily symphony here and in other hospitals across the Islamic Republic. -AP 6/17/20

Iran's state hospitals and clinics are no longer performing vasectomies or giving out contraceptives in an attempt to revive flagging population growth, a senior health official has told state media. Iranian women were now having 1.7 children on average, well below the 2.2 required to maintain the population, Hamed Barakati, director general of the Ministry of Health's Office of Population and Family Health, told the Islamic Republic News Agency in an interview on Sunday. -Michael Safi, Guardian 6/16/20

The number of deaths from COVID-19 in Iran has exceeded 100 for the first time in two months, the country's Health Ministry said on June 14. Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari announced 107 coronavirus fatalities in the past 24 hours, raising the overall death toll to 8,837. She said the number of infections had reached 187,427, with 2,472 new infections recorded in the past 24 hours. 6/15/20

Iran was among the earliest countries to suffer a major Covid-19 outbreak, and now is one of the first to suffer a resurgence... As the virus spread, though, governments elsewhere also proved slow to grasp the threat and other leaders fell ill or were exposed to the virus. Yet the Islamic Republic remains unique in one way: It's dealing with the pandemic while under some of the most damaging sanctions in history, and is trying to leverage the crisis to get them lifted. -Marc Champion & Golnar Motevalli, Bloomberg 6/15/20

Iran started to relax its lockdown in mid-April, after the number of infections declined, so is it paying the price? New infections have been averaging more than 3,000 a day in the first week of June - a 50% increase on the previous week. -BBC 6/11/20

Iran's Health Ministry has announced that students of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacology will be required to take two courses in traditional medicine, Iranian media reported on June 8. In recent weeks, a number of self-proclaimed experts in Islamic medicine created controversy by promoting unproven and potentially dangerous coronavirus treatments. Health officials have warned about fake coronavirus remedies, including illegal herbal products sold online. 6/10/20

Described by US dermatologists as "the most painful disease you've never heard of," EB is caused by a genetic mutation and occurs in every 1 in 30,000 to 50,000 live births globally. Characterised by extreme fragility of the skin and mechanically induced blistering, EB patients are often referred to as 'butterfly children' because their skin appears as delicate as that of a butterfly wing. There is no cure. -Shenaz Kermalli, Atlantic Council 6/10/20

Venezuela has received an air cargo shipment of aid from Iran in another sign that ties between the Islamic republic and the South American country -- both targets of U.S. sanctions -- are strengthening. The flight carried humanitarian aid for COVID-19 patients, including test kits and medical supplies, Planning Minister Ricardo Menendez said. He also said President Nicolas Maduro will visit Iran as soon as possible to thank it for the humanitarian aid and for crude oil it has recently sent to Venezuela. 6/9/20

Iran's Health Minister Saeed Namaki on Tuesday replaced the ministry's spokesman who had become a familiar face during the coronavirus crisis. He advised the new appointee to refrain from "political games" and concentrate on the ministry's expert and specialized activities. Dr. Sima Sadat Lari, the Students Affairs Deputy of the Ministry, who has replaced Dr. Kianoush Jahanpur as spokesperson is a member of the Radiology Faculty of Hamedan University of Medical Sciences. 6/9/20

Iran is reluctantly confronting the possibility of a renewed political crisis as well as a health one after the latest figures showed the number of new coronavirus infections at a record high. The government appeared to have brought the virus under control a month ago, but a second wave of the virus has steadily been gathering pace. According to data released by the health ministry on Thursday there were 3,574 confirmed new infections in 24 hours - an increase of 440 on the previous day. -Guardian 6/5/20

President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday said restrictions will be restored if warnings are not heeded and the coronavirus outbreak peaks again. "People and businesses must take officials' warnings very seriously that there will be another peak if regulations and social distancing are not observed," Rouhani said and warned that restrictions will be restored wherever the virus spreads quickly. 6/4/20

Fears that Iran is in the grip of a second wave of coronavirus have been reinforced, with the health ministry saying 3,000 new cases were recorded in 24 hours - the highest figure for two months. The Islamic Republic, one of the worst-hit countries in the Middle East, started easing its lockdown in April after a drop in deaths. -Guardian 6/2/20

Iran could face a second, stronger wave of novel coronavirus infections if people ignore guidance and social distancing rules, health minister Saeed Namaki said on Monday. The Islamic Republic, one of the worst-hit countries in the region, started easing its lockdown in April after a drop in deaths. -Reuters 6/1/20

Over 88 percent of coronavirus patients have recovered in Tehran, an Iranian official said, adding that the virus is being eradicated in the country. Head of Tehran Coronavirus Headquarters Alireza Zali says the trend of increase in number of COVID-19 infections and fatalities is promising. 5/29/20

Iran national skate team member Mohammad Nemati died of Coronavirus on Tuesday. He has died at the age of 20 in his hometown Mashhad. According to Iran's Health Ministry as of Wednesday the number of coronavirus cases in the country has reached 141,591 with the death toll standing at 7,564. 5/27/20

Iran became one of the first coronavirus hot spots outside of China in March when thousands of Iranians began showing respiratory symptoms of COVID-19. Now Iranian doctors say they are seeing a surge of patients with gastrointestinal problems rather than respiratory symptoms. -Ron Synovitz & Maryam Sinaiee, RFE/RL 5/27/20

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has infected 1,787 people and claimed 57 lives in Iran in the past 24 hours, a senior health official said. Iran's Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour made the announcement on Tuesday, saying that the number of total coronavirus cases in the country has so far reached 139,511 with the death toll standing at 7,508. 5/26/20

Iran has reopened its religious shrines, some two months after closing them due to the Middle East's deadliest coronavirus outbreak. The shrines were reopened on May 25 amid a gradual easing of restrictions put in place to contain the pandemic, which has killed 7,451 people and infected over 137,000, according to official figures. Real numbers are believed to be significantly higher. 5/25/20

The coronavirus has infected more than 10,000 health care workers in hard-hit Iran, news outlets reported Thursday. In southern Yemen, the virus-related death toll at a medical center run by an international aid group attests to "a wider catastrophe" in the war-torn country, Doctors Without Borders said. -AP 5/21/20

"We are gathering precise data from all over the country in order to know how many people from among medical staff have been infected with the coronavirus or lost their lives in fighting the virus. So far, 792 individuals have been infected and 107 dear colleagues have lost their lives. Let's pray for the patients," Hossein Kermanpour wrote on his Twitter account on Tuesday. 5/20/20

As the United States works to contain the catastrophic COVID-19 pandemic, resorting to extraordinary measures to limit health and economic damage to its own population, it should also suspend economic sanctions that are making it harder for some countries to fight COVID-19 and keep their citizens safe. -Hrair Balian, Responsible Statecraft 5/18/20

While Americans are rightly focused on handling the coronavirus at home, the government must also remain vigilant to threats around the world. Yet the Donald Trump administration's approach to Iran, in particular, increasingly lacks any clear policy or overarching strategy. The administration is at times threatening and at times conciliatory, giving Iran little sense of what actions the president will take. This could inadvertently lead us to war, and neither the U.S. nor Iran can afford to engage in hostilities that distract us from the pandemic. -Senator Dianne Feinstein, Bloomberg 5/15/20

Iran has been the Middle Eastern epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Islamic Republic was hit early on into the global health crisis. While it is still unclear when and how Iran's 'patient zero' entered the country, it is fair to assume that he or she was part of one of the numerous delegations that kept on traveling between Iran and China even after weeks of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Due to the encompassing US sanctions regime imposed on Iran, China has increasingly become an economic lifeline Tehran simply cannot afford to forego. It, thus, took Iran much longer compared to other states to halt flights to and from China. -Adnan Tabatabai, Responsible Statecraft 5/15/20

Iran on Friday reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections in more than a month as it warned of clusters hitting new regions. The Islamic republic has struggled to contain the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease since its first cases emerged in mid-February. -AFP 5/15/20

An official of the Iranian Customs Organization on Thursday confirmed that a consignment of medical equipment purchased from Germany worth around 749,000 euros (about $800,000) has been delivered to Iran. Speaking to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the Director-General of Customs Office Sadeq Namdar at the Turkish border said the equipment delivered from Germany consists of haematology testing machines, flow cytometry tubes and autoanalyser machine accessories. 5/14/20

Thanks to the generous financial support of the Government of Germany, UNICEF has procured and shipped to Iran specialized wound dressings for children suffering from EB, also known as butterfly disease. The request was made by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education to UNICEF. 5/13/20

They are regarded as heroes, their fallen colleagues as martyrs. But for doctors and nurses still dealing with Iran's growing number of coronavirus infections, such praise rings hollow. While crippling sanctions imposed by the U.S. left Iran ill-equipped to deal with the fast-moving virus, some medical professionals say government and religious leaders bear the brunt of the blame for allowing the virus to spread - and for hiding how much it had spread. -AP 5/13/20

Some 65 percent of the 200,000 Iranian nursing community has been at the forefront of fighting the coronavirus pandemic in the country, said the deputy health minister for nursing. Maryam Hazrati made the remarks on the occasion of International Nurses Day celebrated around the world on May 12. -Faranak Bakhtiari, Tehran Times 5/13/20

All mosques in Iran will reopen temporarily on May 12 in another step toward easing restrictions implemented to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. The decision to reopen the mosques was made in consultation with the Ministry of Health, Iranian state news agency IRIB reported, quoting Mohammad Qomi, the director of the Islamic Development Organization. 5/12/20

A county in southwestern Iran has been placed under lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday, also quoting the provincial governor as saying there had been a sharp rise in new cases across the province. Tasnim quoted Gholamreza Shariati, governor of Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq and includes the county of Abadan, as saying people had not been observing social distancing rules. -Reuters 5/11/20

New coronavirus infections in Iran have risen sharply since the country relaxed its restrictions on movement, while France has said it will reimpose strict lockdowns if cases surge when it begins to emerge from confinement next week. Tehran on Wednesday reported 1,680 new infections, nearly double the figure four days ago and the highest daily figure since 11 April when it allowed a phased return to work amid fears of economic collapse. -Guardian 5/7/20

Just a few days after Iran announced its first deaths from COVID-19 in February, the Trump administration's Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook was asked during a briefing for an update on the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement (SHTA), a payments channel intended to ease the sale of medicine and medical devices by Swiss companies to Iran. Hook acknowledged that no further transactions had been processed since a pilot transaction involving a $2.55 million sale of medication a month earlier, but insisted that there were "more transactions coming."Two months later, over 6,000 Iranians have lost their lives to COVID-19, and the Swiss channel has yet to process any further transactions. -Esfandyar Batmanghelidj & Image of Sahil Shah, European Leadership Network 5/6/20

Iran said it has sent a plane to Germany carrying about 40,000 locally produced test kits that detect coronavirus antibodies. Other countries including Spain, Brazil, Turkey and Ecuador have also requested the antibody test kits, according to a report on the government's official news website, dolat.ir. It cited Behrouz Hajian, the chief executive of Pishtaz Teb Diagnostics Co., which produces the kits. -Bloomberg 5/6/20

Hoping to export test kits within months, Al Jazeera reports from inside an Iranian lab that is part of the international push for coronavirus solutions. -Zein Basravi, Al-Jazeera 5/5/20

The coronavirus outbreak proved that one-dimensional health systems cannot survive from health-threatening crises, which occur every few years in the form of infectious diseases, a mere view of treatment is not enough, so that the need for healthcare reforms should be brought into sharp focus. Now that the globe is dealing with a pandemic of such dimension, with the help of transformational measures that have taken place in the country's healthcare, we have been able to take control of the disease. -Faranak Bakhtiari, Tehran Times 5/5/20

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says a recent decision by the administration of US President Donald Trump to stop funding the World Health Organization (WHO) at a time that the world body is fighting a pandemic of new coronavirus hampers global efforts to eradicate the deadly virus. -Press TV 5/5/20

While admitting that the official death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Iran has exceeded 6,000, the Islamic Republic Minister of Health warned of a heavy second wave of the disease next autumn and winter. "A relatively heavy attack by a combination of flu and coronavirus is expected in the fall and winter", the Minister, Saeed Namaki, reiterated. 5/1/20

A member of Tehran's City Council has revealed that during the first two months of the coronavirus outbreak the overall death toll in Iran's capital increased by 3,700, compared with the same period last year. Iranian officials have not released the epidemic toll in Tehran, but the nationwide death toll they have announced is just 6,000; too low to account for the increased number of deaths in the capital. 4/30/20

Five science and technology parks affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology described their activities in dealing with and treating coronavirus, the most important of which is the production of herbal medicines and diagnostic kits. A video conference was held on Monday evening with President Hassan Rouhani, Science Minister Mansour Gholami, Vice President for Science and Technology Sourena Sattari, and managers of knowledge-based companies at science and technology parks. 4/28/20

The knock-on effects of the coronavirus outbreak have been devastating for nearly the entire global economy but some businesses are faring even better in the new condition. While many struggle to keep their businesses afloat startups like this one are cashing in on the health crisis by offering much-needed medical services. Since the outbreak of the virus, many previously unheard-of health apps have appeared on billboards to jump on the wagon. -Yusef Jalali, Press TV 4/28/20

It has become a cliche to lament the demise of the rules-based multilateral world order. But Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs introduced an important nuance into this debate at a conference at the Vatican in February 2020, claiming that it is not so much the multilateralism that is being challenged globally as it is the deliberate policy of the United States under the President Donald Trump to weaken it. -Eldar Mamedov, esponsible Statecraft 4/28/20

Over 70 civil society groups representing more than 40 million people called on President Donald Trump Thursday to issue immediate sanctions relief for numerous countries-including Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea-for at least the duration of the coronavirus crisis which threatens to kill thousands in the hard-hit countries. The "urgent appeal" came in the form of an open letter sent by the groups to Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin calling for curtailing the sanctions regime for the duration of the pandemic. -Common Dreams 4/24/20

The daily death toll and positive cases of coronavirus in Iran have dropped respectively to one third and 40 percent over the course of three weeks, which is a source of honor for the country amid the tough sanctions, Health Minister Saeed Namaki has said. The Iranian health ministry on Friday announced that the total number of people diagnosed with the coronavirus has reached 88,194 of whom 5,574 have died and 66,596 have recovered. 4/24/20

The Commander of Tehran Coronavirus Combat Taskforce on Thursday warned that adopting a more relaxed approach to social distancing and movement restrictions is sending the wrong message to people, making them believe that COVID-19 has come under control while fatalities are on the increase again. 4/23/20

The US has refused to ease any of its sanctions against the Islamic Republic, despite Tehran stressing that they are impeding its efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak and are limiting the country's ability to buy medicine and medical equipment. -Sputnik 4/23/20

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 85,996, of whom 5,391 have lost their lives to the deadly virus, according to Iran's Health Ministry Spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on Wednesday. Some 1,194 new cases have tested positive with the virus in the past 24 hours, increasing the total number of infections in Iran to 85,996 since the outbreak, said Jahanpour, adding that 63,113 patients suffering from the novel coronavirus have recovered and been discharged from hospitals so far. 4/22/20

A spokesman in the Iranian Health Ministry said that 1,297 people have tested positive for the COVID-19 disease in the past 24 hours which brings total infections to 84,802. He put the number of fatalities during the past 24 hours at 88. This the seventh consecutive double-digit death toll after the country experienced above 100 daily deaths every day before April 15. The total death toll is standing at 5,297. 4/21/20

Iran has further loosened coronavirus restrictions, opening intercity highways and shopping malls even as the country continues to grapple with the highest number of confirmed cases in the region. The move, which took effect April 20, was an effort to restart the country's economy which had already been faltering prior to the pandemic due to punishing Western sanctions. 4/20/20

Najibeh Gholami was already doing a medical internship at Mashhad's Imam Reza Hospital in February when the coronavirus pandemic reached that home of one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest shrines. An Afghan physician-in-training in her mid-20s, she quickly volunteered to help tend to COVID-19 patients in that northeastern Iranian city. 4/20/20

Since the first case of coronavirus was identified in Iran, the country has taken extensive measures to curb the spread of the disease, so that daily death toll has been declining over the past few days, unlike some other countries around the world which are still grappling with high casualties and infection. -Faranak Bakhtiari, Tehran Times 4/20/20